How can I File a Complaint about Customer Support?

[J-Aragon]

I'm trying to file a complaint about my recent "Customer Support" experience. However, I'm unsure how to go about it, as HP, like most companies, no longer provides a direct contact number, instead forcing customers to go through ridiculous virtual assistance that doesn't help with anything. But my recent experience with human customer support was probably just as bad if not worse than communicating with a virtual assistant. 

Recently my charger broke, my new puppy chewed right through the cord. So, I attempted to order a new charger on the HP website myself, but wasn't sure which charger to order and was hoping my 3year Care Pack warranty would cover it, since I'm an unemployed full-time student at the moment. So, naturally, I contacted HP Customer Support to help order the correct replacement charger & get it covered by my warranty.

The first person I dealt with had a weird attitude, constantly responding to my requests for help with one-word sentences like, "Okay.", leaving the conversation like that and then responding a few minutes later with a ridiculous question or statement. Not only that, but they asked me questions that I didn't fully understand, like, "Can you confirm that this "so and so" is your PC with 62 days of warranty expired" or some crap like that. I was like.... uh... yea that's my PC, but as far as I know, I have a warranty that doesn't expire until 2027. They responded with, "Let me confirm this." Shouldn't this information be readily available as soon as the PC is pulled up on their end? I'm confused. So, I sent a screenshot of my warranty info, as I'm able to access instantly from my PC, and they responded with "That's correct." They left me hanging for a few minutes and then, without confirming if I indeed did have a valid warranty, they asked the SAME EXACT question again, this time with a different value for the warranty. All I said is, "I'm confused" and they said this is the "AHP" value or something and I'm like, what is that?! I didn't actually say that, I said, I can confirm that yes that is my PC, but I'm just confused about the warranty stuff. And again, they just said, "Okay." and left it like that for a few minutes, then came back and said, "So you are trying to order a new power adapter?" ...... I almost blew up on the spot. Oh my God! YES! What?! Of course, I didn't say that, but man I was so irritated by that point. So, I responded with the same initial message I sent, saying I need to order a new charger, not sure which one, and want to see if it's covered by my warranty. They then proceed to tell me that they will order a new charger, and it will be charged to my account or something like that. But the whole point of me reaching out and I literally just said that I want to see if it covered by my warranty. So, I ask AGAIN about the warranty. They say they need to check, AGAIN. And then eventually ask me to send a picture for proof... I was like What on Earth?! 

Mind you, I have been through this same similar scenario before, where my charger was overheating my old PC, had to order a new one, went about it the same way through Customer Support, and they never once asked for a picture for proof or anything of the sort. They simply saw my PAID FOR warranty was still up to date and they sent me a new charger, no ridiculous questions asked. 

Anyways, I said something like that to the person I was dealing with, in a much shorter version, but said I would still send a photo, even though I had already thrown the charger away, so it would take me a little bit to find it and dig it out of the trash. They simply said that's fine, and they would wait. And I did dig that charger out of the garbage, where my boyfriend throws our cat litter.... and took a photo of the damage and sent it off. But I did tell them my boyfriend pulled it out beforehand, because I was unbelievably embarrassed and too prideful to let them know I had to actually do that for their ridiculous request. I was beyond angry. HOWEVER, while I was doing this, the person I was speaking with, who said they don't mind waiting, messaged me approximately 2-3 minutes later saying no rush, but asking if I was finished or still there. Of course, I was busy digging crap out of the garbage, so I couldn't respond, didn't even see the message. And about 1 minute or so later, after having not responded right away, the person left the chat. It truly only took me like 10 minutes, and by the time I got back to my PC, the chat had "paused". So, I sent a message along with a photo of the chewed through cord and the rest of the charger in the background, hoping the chat would just resume. And it did....with a completely different person. Ahhh! So, I even asked if I was dealing with a different person and they confirmed with their name. They then proceeded to re-confirm my identity and ask for my info to confirm my account. I'm pulling my hair out at this point and asked if I could just get a number to call so I can speak to someone over the phone, because I was DONE with this stupid chat business. They told me that they are only with the chat team so they couldn't directly call me.... Oh My God! I'm just like, I don't want YOU to call me, I just want to speak to a human being over the phone, again didn't actually say that. They continued to say that they were sorry for the frustration I had been through, and they would do their best to help, but could set me up with a call if I still wanted. I wish I would have taken the call. Instead, I decided to calm down and let the nice person help me. So, I proceeded for help with Chat Customer Support. 

Everything went smoothly with the second person, or so I thought. I confirmed my information with them and updated them on my situation, actually kind of vented to them about my little ordeal with the first person. They looked up my info and saw that I was trying to order a replacement power adapter and asked a few standard questions about that. I referred them to the photo for proof I had sent and made sure they actually received it. They then said they would go ahead and order a new charger for me and this time actually asked if it was okay to charge it to my account. AGAIN, I was forced to ask about my warranty and if it was covered, as it should be. And again, they said they needed to check and see. A few minutes later, they confirmed that my warranty would cover it and placed me on hold to process the order. However, a few minutes later, they came back and said, "So sorry for the inconvenience." Then, "Can you describe exactly how the charger broke in detail." I was so irritated, I just said, "My dog chewed it in half." They then asked when this happened, and I said a few days ago and gave them a date. They said thank you and again placed me on hold to process the order. After a bit, they came back with the order confirmation and said my charger would be here in a few days. Okay, great, thank you! It only took over an hour... but at least it was resolved, right? Wrong!

So, I got my charger today...... But they only sent me the cord that plugs into the wall (the part that wasn't actually broken), not the actual power adapter (the part of the cord that was actually damaged)!! They couldn't even be bothered to send me the whole battery adapter, they just sent the one piece, and it was the wrong piece! How does someone do that when there is a clear photo showing which piece of the charger is broken?!?! Much less, how does someone just send ONE piece of a replacement part for a whole broken product when it's clearly covered by warranty!?!? That's what PAYING for a warranty is supposed to do, a product breaks, and you receive a replacement part, no questions asked. Why the heck else do people pay for warranties or trust customer support to provide actual support and not bring more frustration and complications to the customer. If you pay for a certain product, you should get what that product is supposed to give, no questions asked, plain and simple. NOW, its Friday and none of the Customer Support options are open, and I'm assuming they won't be for the entire weekend. So... I CAN'T CHARGE MY PC for the whole weekend and until I get this resolved. Which is just unbelievably ridiculous. As I stated previously, I am a full-time student, and I absolutely need my PC for school. 

I'm just so blown away with the whole experience and I have no idea what to do with it. I'm so beyond frustrated and irritated with this "Customer Support" I've received. My only goal in all of this is to report all of this with upper management, because this should NOT be happening to customers. We should be able to get at least somewhat decent Customer Support. This was not even support, it was appalling. The simple fact that the first person was responding with one-word sentences and making me wait nearly 5 minutes for the next response, was ridiculous, and shows a clear lack of interpersonal training on their part. The fact that the second person couldn't even send me the correct order says so much about their attention to detail and lack of knowledge in the matter. And overall, between the two this all shows how much these "Customer Support" people actually care. Which is literally NOT AT ALL. Additionally, my goal is to actually receive the correct part of the charger that I didn't receive, which is in fact COVERED by my PURCHASED 3year Care Pack warranty. 

This all started just because I needed a new charger, and I needed help picking the right one and wanted to use my warranty. Simple, yet apparently very complicated situation for HP Customer Support. If anyone can help me with this issue, please let me know. I desperately need a new charger for my computer to complete my schoolwork, as I am a full-time college student and I need my computer for school. I can't afford to buy one at the moment, so my HP warranty is my only hope. If anyone can look up the chat history in my Customer Support case, my case number was Edited. Someone please help. Please.

[Dragon-Fur]

@J-Aragon 

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